Seer of ghosts & weaver of stories

(You are very much not forgotten)

Well, we're back in Barcelona. We made port very early this morning, which means we were off the ship by 7:15 and checked into our hotel (same one as at the start of the trip; same room, even, much to our amusement) by 8:30. That means we we reached Sagrada Familia by about 10:00, and wow, it's not every day that you get to see a cathedral in the process of being built. The sculptures on the façades are astounding, but the part that struck me the most had to be seeing the contrast between the bits that were built 120 years ago and construction that's more recent. If you get the chance to visit this incredible work-in-progress, I guarantee you that it's €8 (€11 if you're not a student) well spent! Sadly, we left the camera in our hotel room, so there are no photos from this last day of the trip. We fly home tomorrow.

Two days ago: Valletta, Malta. Listening to the language was truly an exercise in cognitive versatility; picking out the words that are throwbacks to Phoenician is a lot of fun. There are photos from this part of the trip, but our camera, being almost dead, needs its batteries charging before I can upload. If it hadn't been raining when the little fishing boat took us out to see the Blue Grotto sea caves, I would've jumped in the water. The man driving the boat encouraged it.

For the moment, though, I'm really, truly exhausted. Signing off.

Am stuffed with paella, sangria, and some kind of peach liqueur that was bloody delicious. Send help plz.

* For a full list of publication credits in poetry and fiction, see my profile.

ABOUT

A.J. Odasso's poetry has appeared in an eclectic variety of publications, including Sybil's Garage, Mythic Delirium, Jabberwocky, Cabinet des Fées, Midnight Echo, Not One of Us, Dreams & Nightmares, Goblin Fruit, Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, Farrago's Wainscot, Through the Gate, Liminality, inkscrawl, Battersea Review, Barking Sycamores, and New England Review of Books. Her début collection, Lost Books (Flipped Eye Publishing), was nominated for the 2010 London New Poetry Award and for the 2011 Forward Prize, and was also a finalist for the 2011 People's Book Prize. Her second collection with Flipped Eye, The Dishonesty of Dreams, was released in 2014. She holds degrees from Wellesley College (B.A. in English), University of York (M.A. in Medieval Studies), and Boston University (M.F.A. in Creative Writing). She has served in the Poetry Department at Strange Horizons since 2012.